EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 14-May-2013

Society of Biological Psychiatry 68th Annual Scientific Convention

Molecular Psychiatry
Brain-imaging study links cannabinoid receptors to post-traumatic stress disorder
In a first-of-its-kind effort to illuminate the biochemical impact of trauma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a connection between the quantity of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, known as CB1 receptors, and post-traumatic stress disorder, the chronic, disabling condition that can plague trauma victims with flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Alligator stem cell study gives clues to tooth regeneration
Alligators may help scientists learn how to stimulate tooth regeneration in people, according to new research led by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). For the first time, a global team of researchers led by USC pathology Professor Cheng-Ming Chuong, M.D., Ph.D., has uncovered unique cellular and molecular mechanisms behind tooth renewal in American alligators.

NIH/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Tumor-activated protein promotes cancer spread
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center report that cancers physically alter cells in the lymphatic system -- a network of vessels that transports and stores immune cells throughout the body -- to promote the spread of disease, a process called metastasis.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Defense, NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Circadian clock gene rhythms in brain altered in depression, UC Irvine Health study finds
UC Irvine Health researchers have helped discover that genes controlling circadian clock rhythms are profoundly altered in the brains of people with severe depression. These clock genes regulate 24-hour circadian rhythms affecting hormonal, body temperature, sleep and behavioral patterns.

Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Fund, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Cancer Cell
Researchers discover master regulator that drives majority of lymphoma
A soon-to-be-tested class of drug inhibitors were predicted to help a limited number of patients with B-cell lymphomas with mutations affecting the EZH2 protein. However, a research team, led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College, now report that these agents may, in fact, help a much broader cross section of lymphoma patients.

Burroughs Wellcome Foundation & Chemotherapy Foundation, NIH/National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Journal of Neuroscience
Grammar errors? The brain detects them even when you are unaware
Your brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but University of Oregon neuroscientists have captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.

NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Journal of Clinical Oncology
Study identifies possible new acute leukemia marker, treatment target
A study has identified microRNA-155 as a new independent prognostic marker and treatment target in patients with acute myeloid leukemia that has normal-looking chromosomes under the microscope (that is, cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia). The findings suggest that this molecule is important in leukemia development and should be targeted by a drug that will inhibit it.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Coleman Leukemia Research Foundation, Pelotonia Fellowship Program

Public Release: 13-May-2013
Bix of Sanders-Brown receives NIH funding for stroke research
The new funding from the NIH will enable Bix and his team to investigate the effects of a newly identified stroke treatment on brain tissue regeneration, to investigate factors influencing generation and survival of post-stroke generated neurons, and to investigate novel mechanisms in neuritogenesis and neurite extension. The ultimate aim of this work is to develop a novel stroke therapy for humans.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-May-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Out of sync with the world: Body clocks of depressed people are altered at cell level
Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression -- even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.

Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Fund, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 12-May-2013

Nature Immunology
Mutation causing wrong-way plumbing explains 1 type of blue-baby syndrome
Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, one type of "blue baby" syndrome, is a potentially deadly congenital disorder that occurs when pulmonary veins don't connect normally to the left atrium of the heart. TAPVC babies are born cyanotic from lack of oxygen. Semaphorin 3d guides the development of endothelial cells and is crucial for normal development of pulmonary veins. Mutations in Sema3d cause embryonic blood vessels to hook up in the wrong way.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 12-May-2013

Nature Chemical Biology
Research on cilia heats up: Implications for hearing, vision loss and kidney disease
Experiments at Johns Hopkins have unearthed clues about which protein signaling molecules are allowed into hollow, hair-like "antennae," called cilia, that alert cells to critical changes in their environments.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 12-May-2013

Nature
Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find
New mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their offspring account for at least 10 percent of severe congenital heart disease, reveals a massive genomics study led, in part, by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 12-May-2013

Nature Genetics
Penn Medicine researchers identify 4 new genetic risk factors for testicular cancer
A new study in Nature Genetics looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today.

NIH/National Cancer Institute